barefoot

All events are true as best I can discern, names of people are pretty much all changed. Shocking how slow I am going through with this…

My re-entry back into biking close on the heels of my failed/Wildly Successful Depending How you Look at It ‘Sailing to Hawaii Expedition with Captain Lee’ (It should be registered that the boat was first owned by Mr. Larry Flint – hustler Magazine, and was bright pink=) and subsequent rescue by the Mexican Navy [another story for another time, my first sailboat ride=], was in the form of 83 mile bicycle ride with twin Ortlieb panniers on the rear Tubus rack, starting at my parents in Lancaster, PA and arriving in Baltimore, MD.

Epically fine ride, a huge chunk, I would say at least half or maybe more is possible via rail trails with BEAUTIFUL scenery and quaint everything in the small towns you pass through from time to time. Big thank you to Mt. Gretna Bikes and Mike F. for helping me with route selection!

Sweet General Store near Glen Rock, all kinds of things…. Please do “Say” hello to the shopkeeper from me, he is a most amiable guy who looked forward to seeing me again…

My re-entry back into blogging is taken in the form of being comfortably numb from a previous evening of high speed traffic dodging on my very rad bicycle aptly named – the Flying Mapache a.k.a. Mapache Volador, a.k.a. The Flying raccoon, beside my very rad Friend Tall P., and yes, moving forward, we change names and add nicknames and what not in order to maintain some privacy for those who might not want me bandying about all manner of personal introspect to everyone in the world…. where was I? Im starting with a story from two days ago, if this is confusing I am truly sorry, if you are a critic of words and how to make ones thoughts sound good, do let me know as I am not…

…yes, going to a very fine eating and drinking establishment whose name completely escapes me right now and not only meeting quite a broad mix of wonderful guys and wonderfully ninja and beautiful ladies and also a brush with a gentleman of indeterminate age and yet of determined tipsy-ness with the courage of spirits mixed with a natural distrust of what I attribute to be a bit of confidence in the air that surrounds me, at any rate, to what he referred to himself as, a “street kid”, which, in my run on sentence structure that is only salvaged from horrific writing skills, style and complete lack of prose, not even knowing what the word really means, Jose Saramago does it, so whatever.

In tribute of respect to street kids, I offer you a Shout Out courtesy of Skrillex=]

I am no longer in possession of his name, the street kid with the ragged green army jacket, an ancient and raggedly greasy looking brownish cabby hat was touched off with a dark red scarf of sorts and decidedly grungy jeans, and, a rare commodity at this bar was his Irish warrior face paint, and of course he had already done a full body flex whilst yelling Im Irish and then arging. You know, like…

“Aaaaarrrrggggghhhh”, and Im thinkin’, he really has delusions, but then, havent many of us… He seriously had face paint and was Braveheart… “Freeeeeeedom!”.

At this point, Im loving my life as it is always so very interesting, and its all from the moments, especially ones with face paint=].

He was adamant about showing me his painting, annoyingly so, and then added with the lack of respect one should show another regardless of station, we are after all all human, we all can go mad, lose or win big, fate reserves no special spots for any save the ones claimed by those who will if only try. Now once he began demanding money and threatening me, then it was time to turn on the boogie machine, but just a lil bit…

I put my right hand into a half fist with the middle knuckle held super tight and smashed the top of his table, which was to my right facing the bar and of course, THE BIG SCREEN TV, this one was yelling a basketball game at me and everyone in the bar would later approve of whatever happened in the game itself, the outcome of the rivalry, everyone that is except for our gay bartender, whom I only found out about him preferring guys over gals was due to a question I innocently asked a guy what he thought of televised sports, to which he replied, “I’m marrying your server.”

It kind of caught me off guard in a good way and that is why it is here on this page.

I forget what he said about televised sports. His now Fiancee and not my bartender but my waiter STILL refused to acknowledge the fact that I do not follow, or have ever, televised sports. I dont know why, it just is…

Anyway…

I hit the table hard enough for “Threatening dude intent on art sale’s” beer to dance a bit precariously and people at the bar either sharply look my way or casually in that obviously casual way at which point I no longer cared as I was following up my vulgar display of power [Pantera] and was now leaning over and what would happen were I to do that in the neck region of a man and besides, he doesnt even know me nor the fact Im just trying to help him tow the line for acceptable public composure so he doesnt get booted out!

Pedaling for Peace right=]

That painting was shown to a lot of people and very forcibly so, eventually he nearly broke a bottle of wine and when realizing that it didnt break, he then stowed it in his backpack, now using exposure of theft and ergo ‘blackmail’ and not physical violence, he became much more amenable and ended up being semi well liked by all and leaving with a new pack of cigarettes from one very interesting and obviously wealthy person, a beer on the house, we all got some of that action and he wasnt kicked out which is the last thing his ego needed. He never sold the painting which was of a rose and angel, though I never quite could make it out…

My reasoning for not exposing the wine theft…. It would of course suit his purposes and had enough dust on it that I didnt think it would be missed, so no point in causing a scene=] That I was keeping him calm through blackmail and threat of violence in first place, you may think to yourself, this guy is nuts to be riding for peace, but you have to understand, everyone is on a different path and looks at the world differently, there are times, where i feel i have to vulgar in my power display in order to keep the peace. If my display ever hurts another, at that point I will have failed terribly, so please dont think i would ever do more than allude to what is possible, never will I use it, further, I dont think I ever will have to, Im too much of a Chris for that to happen=]

As far as being a hypocrite, think of how many hypocrysises we suffer daily not in our best interest, all through out history, kind of Like Jefferson Signing the Declaration of Independence though he had slaves, many, many slaves…. Or The Battle of the Alamo, fought becuase the illegal US immigrants who were squatting on MEXICAN land refused to give up thier slaves, which was law in Mexico – no slaves.

You see?

But then, thats why you have me doing this, I make the hard decisions and walk/ride the narrowest line in a world where there is no reset button.

We ended up at this particular bar as it is on of the only two that Tall P. knows of that still serve him after he lost his D.L. and has yet to sally forth to claim another.

There was some commotion in the front and we found ourselves doing our best to convince a young lady that two car of lengths ahead of her is more than enough to simply pull out, I was gald she took our advice and the soft crunching, engine whine that repeated rocking the large truck behind hers with her Buick was a decidedly bad idea at the time and made her pinky swear with me that she wouldnt die or kill anyone if she actually would just stop hitting the truck behind her, but gentle hits, like 2 ton love taps asking for just a few more inches for MaMa…

——– real time while writing this ——– My friend Jackies auto air spray thingy just went off, i jump every time now thinking about the time controlled release of toxic chemicals into the air and how we live in a world where the more shallow the more coveted to the point that killing the body to avoid a bad smell is whats up!

We rode home, this time there were no accidents and thats an important part of all this biking stuff…

You can guess the rest, we got back to his place in NE Washington and I slept on my thermarest sleeping pad on the floor in the screened in back porch and rode into downtown DC this am to now stay at Jackies house and consequently a, damn, i cant remember the name for the body contour foam space thing super comfy…

Back to Pauls Thursday I think we are going to do a movie apocalypse and see Star Trek on Thursday and Superman on Friday and then Tom Petty Saturday, oh my hells bells, what a day this is shaping up to be!

But this is from yesterday… We need to go back 5 days…

To the beginning, that sounds kinda cheesy….no?

I arrived in an apartment complex on Oliver street with a super rad host named Danilee – couchsurfing.com, host, very cool if you never tried. I tell you the joy of arriving to a place 83 miles after you started that morning, very cool, and that it was done in Luna Sandals, well, thats Epic.

We immediately began by reducing edges through the power of wine, I think I did some cooking and I know we did Kung Fu and handstands at the wall for around 2 hours including practicing the sword form I learned in Nor Cal from the Escrima style of martial arts. Using my bike stand bamboo pole as the sword, which is the whole point, kickstand and dog be gone in one=]

The next day found us having a brunch with her friend who is marrying a psychiatrist from the Czech republic who is one of the foremost doctors doing research into psychedelics in a very serious way for PTSD victims and achieving huge and most remarkable success. I preface that statement with her husband as he does seem to be remarkable and thats why he got such a HOT girlfriend fiance, congrats and buena fortuna to them!

Good to know…. yes indeedy…

We then dropped her off at Dulles Int’l Aeropuerto and then promptly used our newly commandeered car, to scoot to Silver Spring.

It was a Jazz fest, i learned what party cups were and was happy to be the Designated Driver.

I got to see girls kissing – heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Makes me blush it does….

The next day we met a friend of a friend who just moved here from Lanai – Holla Hawaii!, to be the food and bev manager at 4 Seasons, and then went back to Danilee’s place to fix up her bike at a, get this, it tripped me out, a community TOOL library. I’ve never heard of a community tool library. And yet there it was and was very rad with a huge assortment of all manner of things.

It was like walking into an Amish Craftsman store decorated by a guy who obviously loved punk rock when it was hitting it’s stride in the 80’s, and we’re not going to argue over when punk was started, if you have a different date, rock n roll=] He was a totally chill dude, had some sweet tats, and some mighty fine slick hair with the coif in the front.

I got picked up by Tall P. later that afternoon, little did I know of the events that began to unfold once I stepped into the Volvo wagon of power…

We went to his place to get me settled in, I had my two panniers and the thermarest I wrote of earlier, and upon walking in to his apartment, i was blasted by the odor of ammonia, hit me like a wall, just a clearly divided space in the fabric of everything. I cannot do it justice by comparing it to being somehow akin to going from a complete and total slumber and some how somnabulistically meandering your way to very thin ice.

No, I cannot as it was much worse. It was like a part of me that had never been awake now was awakened and I found I couldn’t handle the ride…

As I began to sneeze, TP – ha! Tee pee get it…

sorry

So, he was concerned for my affliction to gatos and I assured him that it was nothing of the sort, while cat dander could evoke a sneeze, it was lost in the haze of almost palpable amonia smell. An overwhelmingly powerful blast.

We decided then I would sleep outside and I would help him get things ship shape, you see, he was in an accident, perhaps the Volvo of power, anyway, his sense of smell was rebooted and never came back online! Like I told him, “Dude, if a chic comes over, she isnt going to last long man, this is withering at best, if she sticks it out, f’ it, marry her or run away cause she’s nuts!”.

perhaps some cranio sacral…

And then off we went, riding like madmen, but at this point we had only given the Water Pipe a test run, just enough to turbo charge the ride…

Hence the ninja like cat reflexes while riding and when the Mapache Volador [my bike] is unburdened, as some of you can imagine, it takes off, I take flight and while I firmly trust and believe the guys at Mt. Gretna Bikes when they told me everything has to be replaced, somehow, I think if i look deeper, while everyhting is not in like new condition, at all, one look at this bike and you see a tried and true, extremely tested machine, one that has endured temps above 120 to below freezing, being thrown into vehicles, dragged through brush, sliding on ice, numerous impacts at speed, being hit by cars – plural, carS and stood being lost at sea for 19 days with no rust upon reentry to rockin and rollin.

The tavern we went to, bless my heart for remembering the name, SHAWS Tavern. Here is where things begin to blossom.

Im totally turned on by the bartender and yet with her extremely stylish haircut mohawk thing, slight gap which I find just right in the front teeth, she did not like guys.

Neither did her partner.

After many beers, many because they were all handcrafted and then brought keg by keg on the backs of ninjas trained in the highest reaches of the fabled Shang Ri La.

The city beyond the last horizon, it was good beer and there were many of them and once I got embroiled in being on the receiving end of some passive aggressive hating while still wanting a tip from Tall P, the vibe was very interesting. Then a met a Doctorate student in some specialty from Iran, very cool young man.

After that, I pretty much remember leaving and then things fuzz a bit, not so much because of the beer so much as what is to come.

Paul would tell me two days later that I was the cornerstone of civility and never once even dared to flirt, which even I find hard to believe, like, I let not a single smile loose in a ‘hey baby’ manner. Yeah right…

Anyway, he’s been the relatively sober upholder of accounts, so, Knight in Shining Armour for one if you please! Good to be maturing, thats for sure=]

Here is where the physical damage to me takes place. My reaction to hearing what happened put out a lot of different emotions, nearly passing out and vomiting was a clue to how bad it actually was=]

We were riding, this time very fast, in fact do you know that some of the fastest cars out there run on crazy high alcohol blends and have blistering speed, apparently so do I after imbibing, so much so that I turned one corner with such momentum that when the pedal hit the ground we both exploded up. I hit the ground and did a kind bounce roll of which I have all manner of scabs directly into a stone wall, P. said that I immediately jumped to my feet and when he asked me if i was alright I would say, …”oh, its all good, you know, round the world ride and all”, at which point I pick up my bike, fall over, get up again, get on, and manage to take two strokes before doing a wheelie right over onto my back and becoming tangled in my bike as it fell on me.

What made all of this worse was the fact that my new Osprey backpack was so very ninja. So ninja in fact that I thought nothing of doing the nights riding with a 20lb bag of kitty litter therein. Its the first bag with the straps and buckles in the right places, everything about it makes carrying weight easy, so then you find yourself cruising around with a lot more weight than normal as it just feels right….. Anyway…

When I went down, the bag added so much momentum to me hitting that i ended up getting road burn on both sides of my body as I bounced. I also now want to take a moment and commend the construction of the Osprey packs, it survived with only some minor road rash holes in the lower right side, and probably saved my back, most of it anyway.

I finally made it up after this fiasco and found I could switch immediately back to my cocksure self and now was weaving all around everything, cars, people, plants, small animals…you name it.

Mr. Darwin, we have a table for one over here on a bike…

Kids, dont try this until you are very old, have all kinds of armor plating and cars are made of cotton candy and rainbow kisses.

It is at this point Mr. P. takes us down an alley of sorts to save me from myself and yet, it is out of the pan into the fire!

You see, we have to ride on a very narrow side walk and at one point there is the brick wall and a sign on a post that you have to go between.

That it is a most precise fit indeed was to be my undoing.

Most choose to walk their bikes, now earlier, I did this at very high speed and it was all good, but, as we know, the Beer Fairy [Tom Robbins, ‘B is for Beer’], had been speaking with me and we agreed about a lot of stuff, so I tried it again.

Have you ever stubbed a toe, or toes, multiple. I have.

Many times.

There went the air freshner spray thingy again…!

So many in fact that I am a bit of a connoisseur of stubbed toes.

My speed and determination were great and while my lean calculated for the handlebars, it did not take into consideration the lower aspect of my bike and the space it inhabited and all forward momentum was placed on my right big toe when it hit the sign post.

Paul said he heard the crash and immediately came back around the corner and all he saw was the sign vibrating slightly…

I was gone.

Now, if you ever have stubbed your toe you know the pain, any children reading this, a toe stub is one of the most unpleasant things that can happen to your human body. I am not sure why as there is a lot of unpleasantness which can be ascribed to your skin suit, but this is a rare delicacy for some reason, I think the surprise factors in largely, let me know if you reach a conclusion.

I was gone and I can only assume that my body dumped every last minutia of andreline that was stored up and I simply had to go, being in the pain that I was in, that and the fact that only just before this i had wrecked epically and waived it off as a trifle and now, well, I am most gratified and thankful to my body for completely blanking out the next couple hours and retroactively blanking out time and then bringing me back nice and easy, not to mention thankfully still a mite tipsy.

So up I go. I could now continue to ride about hopelessly and absolutely aimless in my being lost with absolutely zero reason to stop pedaling as I found myself verily alive and KICKIN!.

I then felt that what the night needed was a clue, as I obviously had none what so ever.

So when I spied three young very pretty ladies hanging out on their porch with one studious looking gentleman, I felt that obviously, right, obviously, I needed to introduce myself and apparently hang out, smoke a little herb, therapeutic you understand, for the toe and now whole body bruising and have a glass or two of wine.

And copious amounts of water, afterall, I lost a lot of blood from my toe and had to get fluid back in me!

The toe, the amount of blood that came out of a stubbed toe of this magnitude is epic, like someone pulled a damn plug on the body and you are on your way out a pint a minute.

I ended up with my LUNA SANADAL being full of dried blood, my foot was dried blood and the top 1/2 inch of my toe is hanging on by a flap of skin.

ewwwwwww.

They were all cool with the crazed, lost, bloody, absolute stranger on a bike and why shouldnt they be, I mean, they are only going to Howard to be high falutin lawyers and doctors, I know I would be whatever with a watching a bloodied version of me, i would run a little bit Im guessing.

We hung out for a while, more drinks, lots of stories and then when the last of them went to bed, I was offered the chance to sleep on their porch, even given a sheet, warm nights, woulda been perfect, I didnt want them to be the only house with a dude on the porch, so I split.

2.am.

still no clue where I am, So Im just riding and next thing I find myself looking at the capitol from a near distance, in my head I believe it went something like… whoa, there’s that building. Such a pillar of thought that one.

For the next 3-6 hours, I am having trouble verifying and pinning down some key times, I rode around, in and through every angle I could lay a bead on as the streets were literally mine.

I dont know if you have ever visited our fair nations capitol, I had but remember it dimly, I only remember the girl flashing her breasts at the four of us elementary schooler’s from her dorm lodging across the way. School tour=]

if you are like me and maybe a lil bit cautious around “the Man”, then perhaps, like me you would not find this a pleasing place to while away the hours.

I now must beg to differ. You see, this bike ride is on deserted streets, and with the amount of patrol cars, marines and barricades all around, you would think it was a set from a zombie apocalypse movie, just no zombies, nobody really.

Top that off with big streets, incredibly well made, these are avenues for the capitol of the country! And when you then rest your gaze on some of the most powerful masonry work in our country, it is a sight to behold and thanks to the beauty of the whole situation, the marines and police, whom while watchful, gave out head nobs and a measured respect which made for all the better of a tour de DC!

I recommend the tour de DC while comfortably numb from 2.30-around 5.

Its a wonderful thing to be cruising on a bicycle and watching the corridors of power come to life. I saw The Lincoln Monument, George Washington Monument, it was all in scaffolding and no longer represented a phallus so much, the IRS building, Capitol Hill, White House, it was rad and the use of all those “names” now brings this blog under scrutiny… Im riding amongst all these are fortresses, amazing grand structures that invoke an other worldliness about them, a sheer break from scale in how massive they are, as though they seek to copy the zen imprint of a mountain. Again, the streets are empty of people, its a blessing for a person on a bike that loves roads.

There came at one point, where I was just riding around a city block in the downtown area near the Capitol building, it was some kind of park and the the way the streets flowed around it it was like a park in a flat surface velodrome, too complicated, the roads formed a track and there I was doing circuit riding, faster and faster with every pass, I expect that seeing as I was truly the only non paramilitary should for a mile at least, I must have been on quite a few cameras attached to lots of 3 letter companies filled wit company men.

As the sun began to rise the city came to life, it was magical in its own way, these massive blocks of stone, modern day super fortresses, slowly breathing in and out, faster and faster as the sun climbs and lattes spill and the powder of health donuts with reduced calories vanish three at a time all over town.

I rode around the “Ellipse” many, many, many times… it was just so velodramus, wat could I do? Ni modo!

At this point, having had no success in raising either Jacqueline [ignored me] or Paul [phone “dead”] from borrowed cell phones, I decided to get a hostel at Hostelling International, which was very epic indeed and the staff was super friendly, to include some of the texts to my friends like this gem:

5.30am – Chris in my lobby can you pick him up from 1009 11st NW. he also have his bike

I got a room when the day managers came in at 6, gave me a whole two days for the price of one, sweet, although I would eventually track down Jackie as I went straight to the computer and then she replied and it turns out I was only two blocks away from her place… sweet!

The clerk offered me a refund as I had only been there for 15 minutes and a vegan sub at subway, happy boy=]

Im seeing the light. Its all about truly seeing and then seizing the moment. Like our Kung Fu mantra Danilee and I tirelessly repeated, “No Hesitation!”.

As long as I fill my days with intense exercise [half of them at least, the other half for reminding myself why I push myself so hard=], speaking to others and trying to guide situations to every ones best benefit, always keeping safe kids and happy planet as a goal and making everything a potential adventure. I cannot fail to be a player in a the huge Game of Life and to be a player for “good”. none of us can fail, we simply need to become re-invigorated, to realize that the moments tat are passing you by are gone FOREVER, you cannot wait till such and such a date to do this and that, you arent even guaranteed to be alive!

All your moments are leading up to one final moment. The last moment of your life and no mater what is happening hduring your final moment, you will see all moments that have made an impact on your life to that point. It is that final moment where we send OURSELVES to heaven or hell, we regret what we did with the time given to us or we rejoice and go with a smile. Either way, it is our call, it is up to us each day to prepare for this one moment in time where we learn a big answer to a huge question.

Running on the beach a few days ago afforded me with much insight into the idea, as I see, behind running and how to be more efficient with it.

Further I was shown the more intelligent side of myself as when we got to the end of our first phase of running we were met by a military serviceman who was stationed there specifically to turn away everyone as the military was having a live fire event. It got me thinking that given the lassez faire attitude so easily and readily adopted here in Mexico, there are good odds for potentially unexploded ordinance, ergo, no more running through this particular set fo dunes for me…. The philosopher Seneca and the naturalist Darwin would be proud. But that was last week, this week, I pushed the odds and was greeted by the familiar sound of whumps and pops as they continued training this week, I decided to use the gift of adrenaline wisely, a true gift, you have almost no control over its release save through your diet and once it hits the bloodstream, you use it or lose it, there is no putting it back in the glands, as with nitrous in a car, its going out the tailpipe regardless of what you do with it.

My point is this, up till now, running was a love of mine that took a lot of energy and left me with aches and pains, the lower back, ankles, knees (remember those spots!), I did it because I loved it, now I still love it and IT CAUSES ME NO PAIN!

Please, read on….

Running…

As best I can now tell, running is a very complex controlled fall and if you use the act of falling as your source of energy, keeping the muscles engaged as part of a shock absorption and rebound unit, things become much easier and more enjoyable with the potential for longer easier runs. Imagine that, using something as it is intended and getting better results! No wonder we dont do it right! Ha! Just kidding, we have largely be trained to run as we do based on the lack of education from our parents and through the learned behavior brought on by our shoes which we will speak to later.
First, the form. The form is the key, think of your body as a machine made from a vast array of simpler machines, fulcrums, pulleys and so on. In anything form is the key isnt it, and I think that perhaps when I watch the runners in the Olympics, I am set back by how they look simply because they move with form, whereas up until now I had very little.

Lets look at over all form:

You want have your back straight, upright, shoulders relaxed, arms loose and slightly bent at the elbows. If you take a martial art, you know this, except your arms will be protecting your body and not relaxing by your sides.
The hips are the key to my inspiration. At first I didnt realize I was doing it, then I noticed it, but did my very best to let the motion be, and just keep doing its thing, and then I got it.
I was using them in a side to side motion, but really picking up my entire leg from the hip or dan tien area.
The dan tien is the area in chinese medicine/martial arts that is the seat of your power, one of my students Carlos who is a very good salsa dancer and instructor told me that his teacher taught him to move fomr this area, so we begin to see the strain that ties good movement to this area, so now we apply it to running for you!
In a nasic sense we can view the hip leg area in car terms. For me, the hip represents the cam shaft, the leg the connecting rod and the piston is the foot.
If you are not familiar with cars this will be lost on you, here is some wiki love to help you with the picture…
The movement comes from the hips, almost as though you are “sallying” back and forth.
In Baguazhang Kung Fu we have the same movement for the legs with the fixed posture walking. The entire leg is lifted from the hip and then moved forward and placed, all the time the movement coming from the hips. This is an extremely slow movement as it is a moving meditation exercise yet, the priciple applies.
Try it, try walking from your hips, of course you can allow for the leg to move from the knee and the ankle will flex, but this will happen due to you being completely relaxed in those areas, they will naturally move.
Many times we actually run in part from the musculature of the knee, I used to do this, it feels natural especially with the way shoes are made. The thick, shock absorbing soles allow you to feel better running with a heel strike.
This may feel ok due to the padding, it is in fact an incorrect use of the machinery we call the leg. I call your attention to prosthetic legs used for sports like the Olympics, where does the strike come from in the prosthetic, the front or the back?

if it made sense for the HEEL to be the point of impact, i.e., if that was the anatomically correct way to run, wouldnt it then make sense that the point of impact would be in the back and not the front as we see pictured? I use this as one example and also would like to bring your attention to the kinetic chain, this is described in detail in another article here.

Essentially, the kinetic chain is how energy travels through the body. If you move rightly, there is no problem, you use the machine as intended, move incorrectly, you begin to break down your machine at many points eventually resulting in medical problems.

The forefoot is flexible and made up of a chain of bones and muscles, made to flex, the heel is a solid extrusion of bone with a ball at the end. It is completely inflexible and if it wasnt for the thickness of your shoes, I assure you, your gait would naturally begin to take and make use of the forefoot strike.

The Forefoot Strike.

If you look at the forefoot pictured, you will see the two balls of the feet are perfectly situated to absorb impact using the network of ligaments and tendons, the small bones can absorb a lot of shock and distribute it evenly and in such a way as to dissapate said shock at each foot strike. The toes are there for a vast array of fine tuning the movements, many times they will not be put into play. In the beginning, as you learn the nuances of your new running machine, you may find that you are sore and get cramps in various parts of your feet.
With time this will pass, it is only becuase you are literally re learning how to move, as when we learn most things we become tense, your feet will especially become tense and tired very quickly during this initial stage of learning to fly.
The forefoot will come into contact with the earth and the heel will begin to collapse the foot downward as it too comes to the earth. It will never touch, only for the briefest of moments and it will not be a starting point for your forward motion. REMEMBER, you are not using your heel for anything in your new stride. It briefly graces the earth and is off again.
So how do I move forward if Im not pushing off with my heel or pushing off from the knees!?!
Youre falling. We all have heard at times, perhaps you have, thatnwalking is nothing more than controlled falling. This is totally correct, and once we start utilizing our bodies as the machines they were created to be, we will notice this effect in an almost exaggerated way. Therein lies the beauty!
So much energy is lost in running by simply using the wrong muscles to make forward propulsion, where I am suggesting you use the power of gravity from the fall coupled with a fulcruming action with every step. Your energy loss drops to a third of what you most likely have been using.
Here we are, picture this…
At the start – Your leg is essentially a machine arm that has three MAIN points of movement:
Ankle
Knee
Hips

The ankle and the knee you Do Not need to focus on except to keep them relaxed and loose. Movement will come from the hips and yes, this will feel wierd at the beginning, thats Ok, when you first learned to walk it was wierd as well, embrace the wierd.
As you pick up your foot from the hip, the knee will naturally break as it responds well to gravity and is a joint that goes back and forth, if you lift the upper leg, the lower will swing as the foot follows gravity downward.
You move forward due to your upper body being erect, spine straight, tail tucked, mass centered over your hips and slightly forward, this is how you control your speed, the more forward you lean your upper body, the more aggresive your forward motion will be.
Your hips will begin to “piston” , in other words, if a person were looking at you from the back, or I guess the front=], your hips would look like a see-saw when viewed from the side.
As you progress with your training, and do PLEASE remember to give yourself time, you will notice that you will begin to find rigid postures for your legs, i.e. That at times it will make more sense for you to use a minimal amount of energy to ensure that yournlegs are moving only at the hips and at the ankle, the knee is nearly locked and you are now operating a more advanced running machine. If this happens embrace it! I only write about it so you know that in my idea, it is totally O.K., it just took me a while to get to that point, you got there quicker… SWEET!
When striding, I find I can really kick out a jam, float over sand, even loose sand and it will feel and seem very ninja. Many times, with loose sand as that is my primary medium of late, I will hit three to four big strides, one or two small ones, two to three big ones a small one, back and forth, its such an amazing feeling to use this machine correctly.

Imagine, you have heard that we only use 10 percent of our brain right? So imagine that through learned behavior and modern technological comfort the same is happening to your body! You are literally being led to your own destruction physically. And I do not feel I wax poetic. One need only look at shoes to see whats what, as a human gets older, their shoes usually have thicker and thicker soles and padding until it looks as though they are walking in bumper cars, assuming they are even capable of doing so, many times we see walkers and even carts on people that if they took time to re use thier bodies correctly would begin to move right.
How many older generations in the very poor countries do you see with carts and walkers? Not many, why, many times, I believe, it is due to thier lack of being able to afford nice shoes, they instead must make do with flat sandals usually made from recycled tires.
The most popular shoe craze right now is the minimalist footware explosion, currently being led, again, in my humble opinion by Vibram and Luna sandals. Both of which are made of a thin, flat piece of hard rubber for the sole and minimal upper if any. In the case of Lunas, they are modeled after the Tarahumara style sandal, this is an indigenous population of Indians in Northern Mexico who are known for thier ability to run mind boggling distances. Another argument for minimalist shoe wear is the prescribed shoe wear of martial artists, yes, I am speaking about the Bruce Lee shoes. That is minimalist footwear! And now a word on the Tarahumara… Thier footwear is called Huaraches=]

The word for themselves, Rarámuri, means “runners on foot” or “those who run fast” in their native tongue according to some early ethnographers like Norwegian Carl Lumholtz, though this interpretation has not been fully agreed upon. With widely dispersed settlements, these people developed a tradition of long-distance running up to 200 miles (320 km) in one session, over a period of two days through their homeland of rough canyon country, for intervillage communication and transportation as well as to hunt.[2]

The Tarahumara also use the toe strike method of running, which is natural for barefoot running. The long-distance running tradition also has ceremonial and competitive aspects. Often, male runners kick wooden balls as they run in “foot throwing”, or rarajipari competitions, and females use a stick and hoop. The foot throwing races are relays where the balls are kicked by the runners and relayed to the next runner while teammates run ahead to the next relay point. These races can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days without a break.

Pre-tool humans may have used persistence hunting universally to hunt prey. Humans in excellent physical shape, given the time, can outrun quadrupeds, which slow down when fleeing over long distances and lose their ability to pant while running.

This has been thier style running implement for 300 smoe years, the only changes have been the materials used, what once was hand woven or stretched leather, is now more often than not a re-used motorcycle or similar tire.

I trust you have a bit of the idea of the look and feel so to speak of this way of running. Now I waould like to suggest some ways to make this an easier transition and suggest some good places for you to try out your new form and get positive feedback from nature.

I mainly run barefoot in two conditions, sand and grass. When my feet are super ninja I can do light to mediam gravel, but for this takes some time to build up to and has really only happened living in Hawaii.

SAND

Its absolutely fantiastic running in sand as more often than not it means there is a beach close by and I can think of no better place to stretch ones legs then by the shore. Clean air, beautiful scenery and the perfect after run cold, depending on what beach, soak for your feet!

One of the tips I can offer is that if you live in an area which has patrolled beaches, go for the tire tracks and guides. usually the sand will be firm enough, the tread pattern of the tire will provide light stimulation of the foot and the sand beneath the tread will be like a think one time use form fitting mattress for each step. There is also a stretch of sand somewhere very near and sometimes in, the edge of the surf zone. This 3-5 foot band will feel like running in a very thick, one time use, memory foam mattress and will provide you, in both cases, will provide you with valuable foot imprints. These imprints will tell you a lot about your gait, foot strike, angleation [is that a word] of your feet, the splay, basically everything. I suggest getting to the beach early so that you may have the fewest possible other footprints to muddle yours. You want to be able to focus and have quality feedback from mother nature about what you are doing. After the run, take a look at your starting tracks, your mid tracks and your finishing tracks. You are looking Sherlock Holmes style, for a forefoot strike, light heel imprint and ninja claw action from your toes on each step.

As much as possible, you want your feet to be pointing straight ahead, too much side to side splaying on the imprint indicates a lot. If you see this, focus on having your foot land straight ahead. It may take time to switch from a duck or pigeon type step, thats O.K., start now, slowly but surely and you’ll be fine.

GRASS

I love it, takes me back to the end of my second divorce when I went to Australia to be a lifeguard at my mates waterpark in Ballaratt and forget about it all. I started my trip in Surfers Paradise and found myself without running shoes. As there was a large grass footi [Australian Rules Football] directly out the back gate, I decided to just go barefoot.

My life has never been the same since. The freedom I felt that day was electric and inspirational in a way. It felt good for the first time since childhood to have a body, that may sound a bit far out, but there it is. No longer was my bag of bones a restriction, it was a blessing and I rocked it well.

Since then I have really progressed in my running and find there are many types of grass. When you start you want to go for the lush stuff if you can find it. The Bermuda, the golf course style lushness, not as short as that will negatively impact the shock absorption factor, but not so long that you are Indiana Jonesing it either.

If youre lucky you will find the type of grass that will give you the feedback we talked about earlier in relation to the sand. Remember, feedback is key so you can continually fine tune your running and always become more ninja.

As you progress, you can begin to get into tougher and tougher grasses as this will activate different points on your feet and in reality, you want your feet to be as strong as, well, as strong as humanly possible, I mean, it makes sense right!?!?!

Another way to do this and make it fun is ULTIMATE FRISBEE! I have played in both Hawaii and Singapore and both times barefoot. The Singapore one was a bit much as I was playing with pros and the grass was more of a dirt field with patches, but it was such a good sore by the time the game was done, well worth it. Make sure that you are well into your training and can already handle long runs barefoot. You will end up running back and forth so much chasing that little disc you wont realize the distance you are truly covering and could end up doing some damage.

Remember your tomatoe plant, when you are eating the tomatoes, THEN you think about playing sports barefoot!

TIME

Give yourself a truckload of it and then some. Chances are you have been pitter pattering all over for the last however long in all sorts of varying degrees of shoeness. Thick soles, high heels, shitty flip flops etc. Your gait and style of movement are more than likely wholly suited to the bumber car shoe future.

When you start, try walking for 5 to 10 minutes, three times a week. At the end of the first week, you may have some soreness. Using this as a base, AND making sure to inspect your step to ensure proper progression, gradually build your workout. Do this very slowly as it will be extremely easy to over do it at this phase in training. You will be re-activating very small, but very strong musculature, tendons, ligaments, bones will be fortifying them selves in this time, a lot will be going on.

So give it time, a great way to do this is find a medium speed growing plant, like a tomoato, plant it and as you see changes in the growth, use it as a rule for advancing your workout. Many of you havent a clue of the human timeline anylonger as it has been taking a beating with smart phne technology, internet, social media, deadlines, simply being pulled in a million directions all the time with a global system that never sleeps. The timeline of natural growth has been upset so totally that many of us now need help and guidance to re-learn if you will how to go about making the changes we say we would like to see.

Add in Genetic modification of food, plastic surgery, crash diets, weight loss in 30 days or less pills, etc. You are being bombarded on so many levels a sense of urgency that it is TRULY a serious task getting your timeline back in order. Another way to look at it is your baseline. Please read the article on baselines here.

HEALTH

Many people may never realize the true damage done by imporperly using your feet via the condition called SHOES. It is amazing what happens when yuo tinker with the kinetic chain in a seemingly easy way. Would you be surprised to find out that many ailments, knee pain, hip pain, bunyons, planatr issues, low back, back in general, shoulder, neck and even migraine headaches can be caused by using shoes. Its amazing and its a scientific reality. I strongly urge you to walk barefoot as much as possible, as we are born is how we are meant to live. The machine called your body is made, literally to work in certain ways.Through the artifice we call culture or civilization, we are doing harm to this machine on such a broad and sweeping range that it truly boggles the mind when you get into it. For now we are focusing on the feet. love them and treat them as the ninja devices they are. they are perfectly made to be what….. NINJA!

Huge ups and downs these last few days… Went for wood for a bonfire and ended up clumsily slipping on a muddy hillside and really pushing my knee to the limits. The pain was at the same level as when I had a complete dislocation in high school, and yes, i remember it well. Time may help most memories fade, but the pain from that injury is still as fresh as ever. All of that to say that the damage was pretty intense.
Which brings me to my point. 2 things, the first is barefoot training, the second is natural remedies.
I have been training extensively with the barefoot angle, to the point that I am now a proud member of the Vibram 5 finger shoe club. My legs and feet are getting a kind of denseness that I have experienced one other time in my life and that was in Hawaii about my 3rd year there, when I was barefoot nearly all the time or using my slippahz.
I truly feel that this accident would have been much worse had I not been barefoot ninjaing around. I was unable to walk for 24 hours after the injury and within 72 hours, was back on my feet, and today, day 4, I will attempt a long walk in my ninja shoes….

Like this:

We will be logging/blogging our daily fitness routines and dietary thoughts/implemenations.

We would love it if people would follow along with us and give feedback so we may make a more concise and all around program to help individuals become healthier, live freer more satisfying lives and begin to take back their own personal power so that they may have a greater impact on the people they surround themselves by. the greatest way to change the world, is to be the change you most wish to see. As natural beings we must learn to return to basics, to nature as it were. Given our current state of affairs, many of us do not know how to best take care of thier bodies, minds and even souls. Through daily practice and a pursuit of knowledge dealing with the human body and it’s myraid interactions with the mind and soul, we seek to help give a solid platform that any individual may use to begin thier personal journey towards satisfaction of the basic human question, “Why am I Here?”.

It is difficult if not impossible to answer this question if you battle daily with stress, health problems, unbridled wants and desires..

What we are doing here is doing the things we are writing and speaking about. We are not preaching a teaching without walking a walk. This would be hypocritical and on a deep level would upset the trust factor in what we write about.

We began our day with a light cleanup of the house, a clean house is a reflection of a clean mind. Your surroundings, especially your territory represent to varying degrees, your internal climate/situation. Let this sink in.

Cup of coffee with Almond Milk made in a french press, coffee was a quality kind, La Estacion from Coatepec in Veracruz

Too much coffee, not a good things, there are many interactions that occur int he body due to the concentration of caffeine in coffee. In many traditional medicines it is shunned in favor of teas. I do not mind it if it is quality, not expensive, this is not a representation always of quality when it comes to all things ingested. Go for good and as close to chemical free as possible. Coffees that are artificially de-caffeinated, or heavily processed are very bad for the body, further, the reaction from the chemical processing both with the caffeine itself in the coffee and your bodie is very hard on your body to the point that it is not recommended. You are only tearing down the walls of your palace for, at most, a 30 minute fix. HIGHLY UNWISE.

Barefoot run on the beach, Playa Municipal –

Barefoot running is precisely that. Running barefoot. The reason for this is that the human body, as will all bodies in nature, the fish, the bear, the puma, the hummingbird, the Chihuahua, all life is best suited for the environment without the thought of covering it up. You are designed to be perfect, naked. As we expand out populations, we go to places that require clothing due to the adversity it gives our bodies. Our social customs require clothes, and depending on where you are, more or less, both unwritten and law…. This applies so expressly to our feet, an area of the body so often overlooked until there is a problem, and yet, I cannot think of a more pivotal area of the body, pun intended, as it connects you to the planet you live on.
The foot is made up of a profoundly surprising number of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerve pathways, one of the most tightly compacted bundle of tiny things int he body with such a huge effect should any one part be cut off from the rest of the picture. Usually we do this with shoes.
Shoes make the foot safer to a degree. When used CONSTANTLY, we see that a gradual degenration of mobility, flexibility, range of motion, increase in chance of injury, in finitum (etc.), occurs. This is due to the foot becoming complacent as it is overprotected and fails to function properly. key joints and motions in the foot become sloppy and weak, totally reliant on the shoe for the support it once had to provide entirely by itself. In fact, I believe that if you kept a babies feet continually covered from birth, you would cause serious trouble indeed!
The same applies to us at any age. The more our feet are cut off from true feeling, the weker they become in relation to the whole. When I speak of the whole, i refer to the kinetic chain. This is the sequence of movement in the body from point of contact throughout the whole. With the feet. You take a step, as the foot connects to the earth, every bone, muscle, ligament, nerve, tendon, activates all the way throughout the rest of the body. If they did not we would simply topple over, we couldnt move, the music of the symphony of our body would be in discord and nothing would happen. Everything must interact according to design. For istance, any mechanical device, a clock for instance, can withstand the malfunctioning of any one part, there are a few that simply cannot malfunction, just as in human bodies, for the most part, the clock, like the body can handle a certain degree or range of space in regard to functionality. BUT, ever movement away from “perfect”, results in a loss to the overall mechanism, as in the human body. The more your feet muscles/bones, etc. move away from working as designed due to getting untrained by shoes that seek to do the work of the foot and keep it continuously cushioned, the weaker teh foot gets, the more the rest of the body has to compensate for your improper gait (stride) and the greater the loss in precision. For a clock this would result in the clock running faster, slower, skipping minutes etc.
All of these minor conditions will continue to add up until the strain they place on the rest of the mechanism causes other links in the chain to begin to deteriorate as well.
Is this making sense?
This is why we jog/run/walk barefoot AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Todays jog was taken at a slow pace, in soft sand for roughly 3 miles. The sand was warm which is key for me on any barefoot mission, when the surface is cold, it creeps right up into your kidney area and literally drains your energy, in Chinese medicine, it eneters through the Kidney 1 point –

The Jing Well. I am sensitive to this and prefer warmth. Currently in the house I am walking barefoot which is cold, and yet i suffer it (lightly used phrase) in order to become stronger.
When running barefoot, initially you must take a lot of concentration, do not push yourself, the muscles and machinery of the foot are more than likely out of shape and the rest of the kinetic chain is usually adapted to your “Shoe” lifestyle and will therefore be out of condition as well. GO EASY ON THIS PATH. Be easy with yourself. Give tiem to literally allow your body to remember how to walk properly. Do not over analyze, BUT, stay very FOCUSED on your walking and feeling. Go through your research and figure out how you want you foot to strike the earth so that it is anatomically correct. Read, remember and practice. As time passes, walk/run/jog/hike/climb etc., greater and greater distances and times.
Many knee aches, lower back pains, shoulder and neck pains will be relieved and if enough barefoot walking is done, you will not only lose your pain, you will also start to reverse negative processes at work and begin healing. Bunions, joint issues, you will be able to avoid repetitive foot surgeries. You will strengthen your foot. Avoiding future need for surgery as you have corrected the cause of the problem and NOT the Symptom.
Also focused on was stretching in the sand. Simply getting comfortable with being sandy is for me a challenge at times. Stretching and a lot of stomach work. Your tummy is your core, your core is what keeps you balanced. It allows you to stand on one foot, to move through the world, to change the energy of air/food (earth)/water into energy, or Fire. Your container for this fire must be strong, as it is the fire of life, you must contain it in a proper container, lest you lose it unnecessarily.

Later this afternoon, we will have left overs consisting of mushroom risoto with extra mushrooms, some stir fried greens, nutritional yeast, and dulce flakes.

Letr, we will do a combination of yoga and kung fu.

Tomorrow we will do much the same. We will more than likely run in a different area, one that requires shoes, do some rock climbing, and, well, we’ll see.

We are very excited to share this with you from day one. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and dont push yourself to pain. Intense tired is O.K., as it goes away very quickly with a rest in between sets. Pain is not O.K., a tired that leaves you feeling wasted and spent, not O.K. Be NICE TO YOUR SELF! Take time, everyday, as Master Bruce Lee says, “Do more than the day before”.
Easy, start small, grow your body to be a tree of life, huge and strong, it takes time, it takes time all day everyday, focus on your posture even when you site, focus on chewing your food slowly being thankful that you have it, you must focus on EVERY aspect of your life if you want to change your life. Do you understand?

Like this:

We will be logging/blogging our daily fitness routines and dietary thoughts/implemenations.

We would love it if people would follow along with us and give feedback so we may make a more concise and all around program to help individuals become healthier, live freer more satisfying lives and begin to take back their own personal power so that they may have a greater impact on the people they surround themselves by. the greatest way to change the world, is to be the change you most wish to see. As natural beings we must learn to return to basics, to nature as it were. Given our current state of affairs, many of us do not know how to best take care of thier bodies, minds and even souls. Through daily practice and a pursuit of knowledge dealing with the human body and it’s myraid interactions with the mind and soul, we seek to help give a solid platform that any individual may use to begin thier personal journey towards satisfaction of the basic human question, “Why am I Here?”.

It is difficult if not impossible to answer this question if you battle daily with stress, health problems, unbridled wants and desires..

What we are doing here is doing the things we are writing and speaking about. We are not preaching a teaching without walking a walk. This would be hypocritical and on a deep level would upset the trust factor in what we write about.

We began our day with a light cleanup of the house, a clean house is a reflection of a clean mind. Your surroundings, especially your territory represent to varying degrees, your internal climate/situation. Let this sink in.

Cup of coffee with Almond Milk made in a french press, coffee was a quality kind, La Estacion from Coatepec in Veracruz

Too much coffee, not a good things, there are many interactions that occur int he body due to the concentration of caffeine in coffee. In many traditional medicines it is shunned in favor of teas. I do not mind it if it is quality, not expensive, this is not a representation always of quality when it comes to all things ingested. Go for good and as close to chemical free as possible. Coffees that are artificially de-caffeinated, or heavily processed are very bad for the body, further, the reaction from the chemical processing both with the caffeine itself in the coffee and your bodie is very hard on your body to the point that it is not recommended. You are only tearing down the walls of your palace for, at most, a 30 minute fix. HIGHLY UNWISE.

Barefoot run on the beach, Playa Municipal –

Barefoot running is precisely that. Running barefoot. The reason for this is that the human body, as will all bodies in nature, the fish, the bear, the puma, the hummingbird, the Chihuahua, all life is best suited for the environment without the thought of covering it up. You are designed to be perfect, naked. As we expand out populations, we go to places that require clothing due to the adversity it gives our bodies. Our social customs require clothes, and depending on where you are, more or less, both unwritten and law…. This applies so expressly to our feet, an area of the body so often overlooked until there is a problem, and yet, I cannot think of a more pivotal area of the body, pun intended, as it connects you to the planet you live on.
The foot is made up of a profoundly surprising number of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerve pathways, one of the most tightly compacted bundle of tiny things int he body with such a huge effect should any one part be cut off from the rest of the picture. Usually we do this with shoes.
Shoes make the foot safer to a degree. When used CONSTANTLY, we see that a gradual degenration of mobility, flexibility, range of motion, increase in chance of injury, in finitum (etc.), occurs. This is due to the foot becoming complacent as it is overprotected and fails to function properly. key joints and motions in the foot become sloppy and weak, totally reliant on the shoe for the support it once had to provide entirely by itself. In fact, I believe that if you kept a babies feet continually covered from birth, you would cause serious trouble indeed!
The same applies to us at any age. The more our feet are cut off from true feeling, the weker they become in relation to the whole. When I speak of the whole, i refer to the kinetic chain. This is the sequence of movement in the body from point of contact throughout the whole. With the feet. You take a step, as the foot connects to the earth, every bone, muscle, ligament, nerve, tendon, activates all the way throughout the rest of the body. If they did not we would simply topple over, we couldnt move, the music of the symphony of our body would be in discord and nothing would happen. Everything must interact according to design. For istance, any mechanical device, a clock for instance, can withstand the malfunctioning of any one part, there are a few that simply cannot malfunction, just as in human bodies, for the most part, the clock, like the body can handle a certain degree or range of space in regard to functionality. BUT, ever movement away from “perfect”, results in a loss to the overall mechanism, as in the human body. The more your feet muscles/bones, etc. move away from working as designed due to getting untrained by shoes that seek to do the work of the foot and keep it continuously cushioned, the weaker teh foot gets, the more the rest of the body has to compensate for your improper gait (stride) and the greater the loss in precision. For a clock this would result in the clock running faster, slower, skipping minutes etc.
All of these minor conditions will continue to add up until the strain they place on the rest of the mechanism causes other links in the chain to begin to deteriorate as well.
Is this making sense?
This is why we jog/run/walk barefoot AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Todays jog was taken at a slow pace, in soft sand for roughly 3 miles. The sand was warm which is key for me on any barefoot mission, when the surface is cold, it creeps right up into your kidney area and literally drains your energy, in Chinese medicine, it eneters through the Kidney 1 point –

The Jing Well. I am sensitive to this and prefer warmth. Currently in the house I am walking barefoot which is cold, and yet i suffer it (lightly used phrase) in order to become stronger.
When running barefoot, initially you must take a lot of concentration, do not push yourself, the muscles and machinery of the foot are more than likely out of shape and the rest of the kinetic chain is usually adapted to your “Shoe” lifestyle and will therefore be out of condition as well. GO EASY ON THIS PATH. Be easy with yourself. Give tiem to literally allow your body to remember how to walk properly. Do not over analyze, BUT, stay very FOCUSED on your walking and feeling. Go through your research and figure out how you want you foot to strike the earth so that it is anatomically correct. Read, remember and practice. As time passes, walk/run/jog/hike/climb etc., greater and greater distances and times.
Many knee aches, lower back pains, shoulder and neck pains will be relieved and if enough barefoot walking is done, you will not only lose your pain, you will also start to reverse negative processes at work and begin healing. Bunions, joint issues, you will be able to avoid repetitive foot surgeries. You will strengthen your foot. Avoiding future need for surgery as you have corrected the cause of the problem and NOT the Symptom.
Also focused on was stretching in the sand. Simply getting comfortable with being sandy is for me a challenge at times. Stretching and a lot of stomach work. Your tummy is your core, your core is what keeps you balanced. It allows you to stand on one foot, to move through the world, to change the energy of air/food (earth)/water into energy, or Fire. Your container for this fire must be strong, as it is the fire of life, you must contain it in a proper container, lest you lose it unnecessarily.

Later this afternoon, we will have left overs consisting of mushroom risoto with extra mushrooms, some stir fried greens, nutritional yeast, and dulce flakes.

Letr, we will do a combination of yoga and kung fu.

Tomorrow we will do much the same. We will more than likely run in a different area, one that requires shoes, do some rock climbing, and, well, we’ll see.

We are very excited to share this with you from day one. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and dont push yourself to pain. Intense tired is O.K., as it goes away very quickly with a rest in between sets. Pain is not O.K., a tired that leaves you feeling wasted and spent, not O.K. Be NICE TO YOUR SELF! Take time, everyday, as Master Bruce Lee says, “Do more than the day before”.
Easy, start small, grow your body to be a tree of life, huge and strong, it takes time, it takes time all day everyday, focus on your posture even when you site, focus on chewing your food slowly being thankful that you have it, you must focus on EVERY aspect of your life if you want to change your life. Do you understand?